I’ve lived in China for 5 years, I usually register, but I have not found it to be a must. During political sensitive times, it is a good idea to be registered because you are more likely to be randomally checked by the police. I prefer to be registered, because I feel like the enforcement of all laws is subjective, and should I have a civil issue like being hit by a car or something, I don’t want the joke of a legal system here to decide because I am not registered, so I am a bad foreigner who doesn’t follow the rules.
But, I’m leaving the country on Monday for 2 weeks, I”lol be back for a week, out again for a few days, back again for 3 days, and out again for about 2 weeks, and back for a month, I likely will not register at the police station 3 different times, especially because my local police station doesn’t actually seem to know how to register people. Also, if you go there on a weekend, they will tell you to come back on Monday, so much for 24 hours if you get in on Saturday or Friday after business hours. Even when they do register me, it is a process that takes 30-60 minutes, while they try and find the one cop who knows how to use the computer, and the one cop who knows enough English to transcribe information from my passport to the computer, and a third cop who sorta ends up watching the other two.
If they really found registration important, there would be a streamline process throughout the country, there would be 24 hour registration, with multiple desk cops trained to handle it. It is paperwork for the sake of paperwork. Also, if it was really a highly functioning system, you could go to any police station in the city and do it, rather than the one specific station with access to your address.
It is a time wasting joke, and I question the benefit of the system. This is a country where if you try to get a police check for your time in Beijing, in Shanghai, the entire system will ground to a haunt and nothing will be able to be done, because they don’t have access to those records.